1. Field
The present invention relates to a cooling system, and particularly to a cooling system for a hermetical computer system having a thermoelectric chip therein, wherein heat generated by heat-generating components in the computer system is cooled by the thermoelectric chip.
2. Prior Art
As is widely known, a computer system, generally has heat sources such as CPU, MOS, a power supply or other computer components. The heat sources generate heat which, if not dealt with, increases the temperature in the computer system. High temperature can reduce the performance of the components of the system and even shorten the useful life of the components.
Thus, a cooling system is often provided to the computer system to remove the heat generated by the heat sources.
In this respect, conventional computer systems are cooled by either positive pressure cooling technology or negative pressure cooling technology. The positive pressure cooling technology forcibly draws cold air into the system from the outside. On the other hand, negative pressure cooling technology establishes a negative pressure in the system by exhausting hot air from the system, whereby cold air is induced into the system from the outside.
The computer systems which can be cooled by the positive and the negative pressure cooling technologies need to be open systems, meaning that these systems allow some physical object, i.e., air, to be moved under pressure out of the systems.
Systems employing the negative and positive pressure cooling technologies are illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a computer system 12′ comprises a computer case 10 having a CPU 8 therein. Heat generated by the CPU 8 is exhausted out of the computer case 10 by a cooling fan 6. More particularly, the computer case 10 comprises at least two ports 10a and 10a′. One of the two ports is an intake port and the other is an exhaust port. Cold air is taken into the computer case 10 from outside through the intake port. The intake cold air is mixed with hot air in the computer case 10 and then is forced out of the computer case 10 through the exhaust port.
In the computer system 12′ employing the negative pressure technology, the cooling fan 6 is mounted in the exhaust port 10a′ as shown in FIG. 5. In the computer system 12′ employing the positive pressure cooling technology, the cooling fan 6 is mounted in the intake port 10a′ as shown in FIG. 6.
When the cooling fan 6 operates, negative pressure is created in the computer system 12′ and cold air is induced into the computer system 12′ from outside as shown in FIG. 5, or cold air is forcibly drawn into the system 10 from outside as shown in FIG. 6. As a result, the computer system is cooled.
In this type of open computer system, cold air must be introduced into the system from outside. However, fibrous materials and conductive particles may be introduced into the system together with the cold air. Such fibrous materials and conductive particles can accumulate on wires of electric components and semiconductor packages etc. mounted on a printed circuit board installed in the computer system. The accumulated fibrous materials and conductive particles can increase electrical resistance of the wires, or shorten the wires, whereby the performance of the electronic components deteriorates, or even the electronic components break down.
Thus, it is desired to devise a hermetical computer system which prevents contaminants from entering the system.